Craig Hill
KC Hill
Paladin
Oracle of DelphiCohen's Commentary on the West
September 27th 2006 02:26
Greetings Blogophiles,
Last night I watched a few You Tube clips of Sacha Baron Cohen running Ali G, Borat and Bruno through their paces. Great entertainment. It's no wonder free to air TV is on the ropes which that sort of on-demand, ad free entertainment at your fingertips.
Amidst the hilarity of Cohen breaking every PC taboo in the book there was a very important point to be learned. Dan Mazer (co-creator of Ali G) explains in one interview that when he and Cohen were crafting the character he was very concerned that the interviewees would call Ali G's bluff. That is, they would accuse him of being the fraud he was rather than taking his questions seriously. Mazer wanted a name which would reduced the likelihood of this happening and what did he chose? The Arabic sounding name "Ali". He knew that people in the UK were very careful not to criticise or offend Muslims and he used this to bolster Ali G's credibility.
It seems that Cohen has developed this theme of exploiting people's reluctance of offend minorities. In this clip Cohen, as Borat, is invited to speak to a small town political gathering in America. He starts by telling the audience that it is the anniversary of a massacre which took place long age in Kazakhstan. He invites the audience to stand and observe ten minutes silence. That's right ten minutes! And they agree! They stand there for ten minutes, heads bowed with out speaking. In fact one person whispers something and like a teacher supervising detention Borat blurts out "No speaking please - we start again" And they do it! The routine goes on and on. Borat insults every sensibility known to Anglo Saxon culture including a discussion on how much he would like to sleep with one of the women in the audience - but he promises to her husband that he wouldn't use force. Everyone in the audience sits there smiling, nodding and indulging him because he's from Kazakhstan. Not a word of protest as they are insulted, offended and ridiculed. Amazing! I don't know if Cohen is trying to make the point that the West no longer believes in itself but that's the message I get from watching that particular skit.
Last night I watched a few You Tube clips of Sacha Baron Cohen running Ali G, Borat and Bruno through their paces. Great entertainment. It's no wonder free to air TV is on the ropes which that sort of on-demand, ad free entertainment at your fingertips.
Amidst the hilarity of Cohen breaking every PC taboo in the book there was a very important point to be learned. Dan Mazer (co-creator of Ali G) explains in one interview that when he and Cohen were crafting the character he was very concerned that the interviewees would call Ali G's bluff. That is, they would accuse him of being the fraud he was rather than taking his questions seriously. Mazer wanted a name which would reduced the likelihood of this happening and what did he chose? The Arabic sounding name "Ali". He knew that people in the UK were very careful not to criticise or offend Muslims and he used this to bolster Ali G's credibility.
It seems that Cohen has developed this theme of exploiting people's reluctance of offend minorities. In this clip Cohen, as Borat, is invited to speak to a small town political gathering in America. He starts by telling the audience that it is the anniversary of a massacre which took place long age in Kazakhstan. He invites the audience to stand and observe ten minutes silence. That's right ten minutes! And they agree! They stand there for ten minutes, heads bowed with out speaking. In fact one person whispers something and like a teacher supervising detention Borat blurts out "No speaking please - we start again" And they do it! The routine goes on and on. Borat insults every sensibility known to Anglo Saxon culture including a discussion on how much he would like to sleep with one of the women in the audience - but he promises to her husband that he wouldn't use force. Everyone in the audience sits there smiling, nodding and indulging him because he's from Kazakhstan. Not a word of protest as they are insulted, offended and ridiculed. Amazing! I don't know if Cohen is trying to make the point that the West no longer believes in itself but that's the message I get from watching that particular skit.
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